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(No Model.) 2' Sheets-Sheet 1. L. OOBURN & W. J. SUMNER.

I DOOR FOR CARS OR-OTHER STRUGTURES. No. 432,225.

Patented July 15, 1890.

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7 m m w w w w 00 I w Z J m w 0 m w 5 Q H u .W J 0 a M w n ZJ H 6 6e L.GOBURN & W. J. SUMNER. DOOR FOR ems OR OTHER STRUCTURES (No Model.)

U ITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEMUEL COBURN AND WILLIAM J. SUMNER, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS TO THE COBURN TROLLEY TRACK MANUFACTURING COM- PANY, OF SAMEPLACE.

DOOR FOR CARS OR OTHER STRUCTURESQ SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 432,225, dated July 15, 1890. Application filed July 15 1889.'Serial No. 317,597. (No model.) 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEMUEL COBURN and WILLIAM J. SUMNER, citizens ofthe United States, both residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampdenand State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inDoors for Cars or other Structures, of which the following is aspecification.

' This invention relates to sliding doors and trolley-hangers therefor,the same being particularly applicable for use for freight-car doors,although Well adapted for use for barn and other doors; and theinvention consists in the construction and combination of parts, allsubstantially as will be hereinafter more fully described, and finallyset forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification,

in which the invention is illustrated, and in which similar letters ofreference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a freight-car and its door,the same being shown as closing the doorway, and the trolley-hangers forthe door are also shown. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of parts shownin Fig. 1, taken on the line 00 :11. Fig. 3 is avert-ical centrallongitudinal section, on a larger 0 scale, of the trolley-track, aroller-carrier therein, and a hanger on which the door is supported.Fig. 4 is a perspective View, also on alarger scale, of a short sectionof the trolley-track. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of Fig.1, but on a much larger scale than said figure, with the door closingthe doorway or opening, the plane-0t such section being indicated byline y y, Fig.1; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional viewsimilar to Fig. 5, but with the door swung out of its fiush' relationwith the side of the car and ready to be slid away from the front of thedoorway. Fig. 7 is a side view of one of the hangers and one of thetrolley-rollers.

In the drawings, A represents the side wall of a freight-carer otherstructure having the opening or doorway a, above which the trol-Icy-track O is secured in a horizontal posi tion, and B is the door tofit in the jainbs of said doorway. Said trolley-track, as shown,consists of a tube, generally of rectangular cross-section, having thelower edges curved in toward the median line and then turned upward, sothat the bottom of the tube has a trough b at each side of a centrallongitudinal opening (Z. The said trolley-track is to be of a lengthequal to about twice the width of the door, and is supported on the sideof the car in any suitable manner, a practical and desirable form forsuch support being shownat or, which consists of aholderorcasting havinginclosing-walls on three sides, and also having on its under sideopposinglips c, all so that the trolley-track may be closely embracedand supported thereby, said casting having ears e, through which theyare attached to the wall of the car, the opening between the said lips cc permitting free passage from end to end of the hanger supported on andcarried by the roller-carrier D- Said supporting-castings are to beprovided at suitable intervals in the length of the track, as may bedeemed necessary or desirable. j

The roller-carrier consists of a pair of rollers 10 10, united by acommon axle 12, said rollers by their peripheries rolling in saidtroughs b b of the trolley-tracks.

E Erepresent a pair of hangers, each suspended by its upper end from aroller-carrier and by itslower end pivotally connected to the door, sothat the door may have bodily a swinging motion outwardly (or at rightangles to the wall of the car, said door always being maintainedpractically parallel with said wall) and to an extent greater than thethickness of the door. The connection of the hanger with theroller-carrier is by forming the hanger of T shape, the cross portion 13thereof being slotted, as at 14,.by which slot the axle of theroller-carrier'is engaged with the hanger. \Vhile it is preferable thatthe hanger be of the form shown and have an elongated slot, it may beformed with practicability, as shown in the view Fig. 7, with merely aneye at its upper end to engage the roller-axle. The carrier is formed byseparate rollers axially drilled and driven onto the ends of the axle,and the connection of the hanger by its slot or eye with said axle ismade before the parts of the roller-carrier are united.

1 represents a lug at one outer side of the doorway, overlying slightlythe opening, serving to maintain the corresponding edge portion of thedoor in its closed disposition, and a hasp h, bolt, or other looking orconfining contrivance is to be employed at the opposite edge of the dooror doorway. Assuming that the door is closed, as shown in Figs. 1, 2,and 5, and desiring to open same by unfastening the hasp, &c., andswinging the edge of the door on which such hasp is carried outwardlyclear of the adjacent jamb, thehanger toward such jamb at such timeswinging outwardly with the door permitting said movements. The door isthen slid longitudinally and horizontally until its rear edge has passedthe lug g, when such rear end portion of the door is also pulledoutwardly, so that the entire door then ranges parallel with the sidewall, being outside thereof, and then the .door may be slid, through themedium of the hangers and roller-carriers, between it and thetrolley-track along the side of the car or other structure and entirelyaway from the front of the door-I way. It will be noted that thethickness of the hanger adjacent its point of connection with the axleof the roller-carrier is less than the distance between the rollers ofsaid carrier, and the opening in the hanger is of such size thatthe axlemay lit the same loosely, and therefore the hanger has in substance apivotal connection with said roller-carrier,

whereby it is capable of being swung in a plane at right angles to thevertical plane of travel of the said roller-carrier.

A lugj (shown near the forward lower corner of the doorway) is desirableas determining the extent of outward drawing necessary for the car-doorto carry it clear from the plane of the walls of the car and to preventexcessive outward movement, and another and angularly-formed lug 70(shown on the side of the wall at a proper distance from thedoor-opening) limits the endwise slide of the door when it has been slidsufficiently to clear the doorway, and the said lugs j and 7c maintainthe door when open in a close disposition against the side of the carand prevent any flapping or swinging thereof. As shown at Z in Figs. 1,5, and 6, the door is slotted vertically, within which slots the saidhanger-bars may generally lie, and by the provision of which noimpediment to the swinging motion of the door on the hangers or thehangers with relation to the door may be had, and in practice caps orguards, as shown at G, are to be provided for inclosing said hanger-barsand covering the said slots in the door. In Fig. 1 one of said caps isshown as removed.

Under the construction and arrangement of parts described the presentdoor possesses the features of a flush and sliding door-that is, whenthe door is closing the doorway its outer side is flush with the side ofthe ear and yet it is capable of being moved to be slid, whileheretofore flush doors have usually been swung from and by their oneedge on hinges.

That we claim as our invention is- 1. The combination, with thecwall ofthe car or other structure having a doorway and a double-waytrolley-track thereabove, of a door, the carriers, each comprising apair of rollers anduniting-axle supported andmovable in the ways of saidtrolley-track, and hanger-bars havinga thickness less than the distancebetween saidv rollers and connected with and supported from the axles ofsaid roller-carriers, whereby they may have a laterally-swinging motionthereon,said hangers also being pivotallyconnected with said door,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the wall of the car or other structure having adoorwayand a double-way trolley-track thereabove, of a door, thecarriers, each comprising a pair of rollers and a uniting-axle supportedand movablein the ways of said trolley-track, hangerbars supported fromthe axles of said rollercarriers and pivotally connected with said door,and caps G, for inclosing said hangerbars, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with thewall of the car or other structure having adoorway and a double-way trolley-track thereabove, of adoor havingvertical slots therein, the carriers, each comprising a pair of rollersand a uniting-axle supported and movable in the ways of saidtrolley-track, and hanger-bars supported from the axles of saidroller-carriers and pivotally connected with saiddoor and adapted to bedisposed in said slots, substantially as described.

LEMUEL COBURN. WILLIAM J. SUMNER.

